By Angela Wallace
Although UVSC put up a handsome fight Tuesday night, the BYU women”s volleyball team overtook the Wolverines in four games, 31-29, 30-25, 30-23, 30-26.
“UVSC did a nice job and kept coming back,” BYU head coach Karen Lamb said. “I felt like we were never in control of the match, even when the score was 28-24. I felt like they were fighting, and they did a lot of great things. It was never easy.”
Outside hitter April Varner had a career night, leading the Cougars in kills and digs. The senior sparked the Cougars” defense with a season-high 17 digs.
“I was really excited that I got a start, but I have to give props to my team,” Varner said. “We worked hard on defense in practice, and it”s my personal goal to get more digs.”
Offensively, she slammed a season-high 21 kills, with a season-best .348 hitting percentage, and also tied her season-highs in blocks and assists.
“April did some nice things for us,” Lamb said. “She played well against Utah. This was a great night for her. She hit a lot of holes and was smart. I thought she was really solid. Overall, she gave us a big lift.”
With 61 assists for the match, junior Lauren Richards posted a season-high record, while Kim Wilson and Lexi Brown came away with 11 kills apiece. Richards also boosted the Cougar defense with 13 digs, along with Stacie Powell and Lindsey Evans combining for 23 digs.
“We had some good performances offensively out there,” Lamb said. “I think our defense really showed up tonight and dug some balls. It sure made a difference.”
Despite a few lineups changes at the first of the match, BYU hung on to a small lead throughout the match and barely captured the first game from UVSC, who tied the Cougars” score 17 times.
In the second game, BYU fell behind the Wolverines early and struggled to recover after being down by nine points.
“We were struggling with our passing,” Lamb said. “We had a libero change and then I switched them back. I think it just calmed them down and evened out our passing.”
After the Cougars settled down in the middle of the third game, they started to pull ahead and stay poised to win the match.
“I felt like whatever we did, we were determined to win,” Varner said. “We made some errors and needed to get some better ball control. I think we did that a lot better in the third and fourth game. I think everyone was having fun out there.”
